New England Air Museum to Hold 2012 Space Expo on April 1

The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Conn. will hold its annual SPACE EXPO on Sunday, April 1, 2012. The theme of the event is “Celebrate the Year of the Solar System”.

More than 15 exhibitors from across New England will participate in the event including Hamilton Sundstrand Division of United Technologies, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Aldrich Astronomical Society, McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, the CATO Rocketry Club, NASA, One Giant Leap, Arunah Hill Natural Science Center and the Talcott Mountain Science Center.

Most of the activities will be hands-on. Visitors can meet an astronaut, try on a real space suit, pilot a space craft simulator, touch a meteorite, learn about the atmosphere of Mars, and build a rocket and much more. Charles Bourland, co-author of The Astronaut’s Cookbook, will be sharing his career experience with NASA developing menus for our astronauts.

There will be several guest appearances and presentations throughout the day including two by NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, a native of Waterbury, Conn. Mastracchio was selected for NASA’s astronaut program in 1996 and is a veteran of three space flights, having flown on the Atlantis, Endeavour and Discovery space shuttles on which he has logged nearly 40 days in Space. In addition to his two presentations, he will be available to talk with visitors.

The Space Expo will run from 10 AM to 4:30 PM. For the convenience of visitors, a food vendor will be on hand all day. The New England Air Museum is located by Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. For further information call the Museum at (860) 623-3305 or visit www.neam.org

This event is being co-sponsored by the Connecticut College Space Grant Consortium and Hamilton Sundstrand Division of United Technologies.